circa 1945: EXCLUSIVE American jazz singer and drummer Mel Torme (1925 - 1999) playing the piano with the Nat King Cole Trio in front of an NBC microphone, 1940s. Left to right: guitarist Irving Ashby (1920 - 1987), Mel Torme, pianist and vocalist Nat King Cole (1917 - 1965), and bassist Johnny Miller (1915 - 1988). (Photo by Metronome/Getty Images)
